La Ron S. Readus
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Black Swan (VIDEO SCRIPT)
🕑 Added 2020-05-08 23:01:00 +0000 UTC
Today on Film Friday, I take a look at the movie Black Swan. Lets begin.
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/Black Swan is a 2010 psychological thriller directed by Darren Aronofsky. It tells the story of Nina, played by Natalie Portman, who, after winning the role of the Swan Queen for the New York City Ballet company’s production of Swan Lake, has to learn to let go of her view of structure and order to master the dance of the Black Swan in order to keep her role. Along with the fact that a new dancer arrives to the company that can encompass the passion artistic director Thomas Leroy is looking for in the Black Swan, Nina’s paranoia and struggle with control begins her down a dark path that causes her to steadily lose hold of her sanity in order to -- as an artist -- achieve perfection./
Readers, I was still living with my parents when this movie was released in theaters.
I was freshly unemployed from my first REAL job that paid more than 2010 minimum wage here in Michigan, and collected unemployment for the first time ever while I was looking for a new one.
During that time, I made a vow to myself that I’d go see a new movie in theaters every Wednesday I got my unemployment benefits. That’s how I got into the habit of going to the movies alone, how I initially saw The King’s Speech, and how I saw Black Swan.
Black Swan was my first Darren Aronofsky film, and I went into this completely blind.
Despite working in theater during my middle school and high school years, I knew NOTHING of ballet outside of some editorials and documentaries I saw about how the industry is for some dancers.
What initially got me interested in it however were the TV spots showing off and praising Natalie Portman’s acting in this and the initial buzz that this film could be the one that wins her a best actress Oscar
And let me tell you, 22 year old La’Ron was completely blown away by this film. Not because of the sex and sexuality of it all, but the psychological aspect.
In my early 20’s I was introduced to a whole new world of storytelling in the form of psychological thriller and horror from watching the dubbed version of Satoshi Kon’s Paranoia Agent on Adult Swim.
/It left such an impact and an influence on me that I felt like I was literally STARVING for more content that dabbled and dove into this territory; I even started writing my own in order to stave the pangs, and I should REALLY update and finish that story now that I mentioned it./
Black Swan was the hit of psychological thriller/horror that I needed after suffering from the withdrawal left on my soul by Satoshi Kon for as long as it did. And there was so much for me to love and appreciate in its storytelling outside of Nina’s mental descent to achieve perfection.
/There was the camerawork, there was the passion Natalie Portman brought to the role. There was Mila Kunis’ depiction of Lily. Barabara Hershey and Winona Ryder’s relatability to help keep this film properly anchored in the harbor that is Port Readus. I can’t say that this is a perfect film, but it's one that definitely deserves accolades./
The reason WHY I say it's not perfect is because there are points in the film that some would condemn, and the reasons why are completely understandable.
Those points in question involve two things: Black Swan’s depiction of the ballet scene, and how it molds individuals like Vincent Cassel’s Thomas Leroy. So for those of you who are triggered by sexual assault and verbal abuse, please skip to this timestamp in order to avoid it.
/Thomas does a LOT in this movie, and all so that he can see Nina dance the Black Swan with the same raw passion and instinct he saw within her when she initially came to his office to fight for the role of the Swan Queen./ (“You fucking bit me” scene)
Ever since then -- especially watching the movie almost 10 years later -- more about this character is brought to the light, and it properly leaves you concerned.
/His actions at the gala where he has to mediate a drunk and justifiably angry Betsy MacIntyre played brilliantly by Winona Ryder plants the seed of how much he truly appreciates these dancers, whether or not he sees Nina as just an upgrade./ (“Did you suck his cock?”)
/When we see that she decided to join him for a nightcap at his place, you fear for the worst. Instead, you’re a bit thrown off by his choice of questions. Then he gives her the homework assignment, (touch yourself) and you tell yourself that all of this was done just to get Nina another avenue to let go of the “purity” she has in order to dance the Black Swan. He’s not a predator, he just REALLY wants her to be great./
Then the private dance rehearsal scene happens.
/And you see that once he’s unconvinced that the assignment he asked Nina to do didn’t do the trick, he completely crosses the line./
Yet while he does so, the movie still wants us to believe that he’s not doing it out of a sense of possession or “let me have my way with you or you’ll never work in this town again.” Because once he finishes, he says:
(That was me seducing YOU. It should be the other way around).
That sentence was supposed to justify what started off as a non-consensual act of sexual assault, because he’s still seeking a Black Swan from Nina that’s less controlled and more seductive and passionate.
/And throughout the movie since then, they continue to try and justify it by having Nina reveal later on in the movie that despite this happening to her, she is in lust with him./ (hot for teacher mention by Lily)
As I’ve stated before, I know nothing about the inner workings of the ballet. So I don’t know if there are individuals out there like Thomas in the industry or if this is just an exaggeration solely meant to make the movie more enticing to the male hetero-friendly gaze.
I also know that this movie was made before the Me Too and Believe Women movements were able to help put away one of the most widely known real life comparisons known in American entertainment today.
I have all the faith in the world that if one of the writers for this film were not only a woman, but a woman with ample knowledge of what went on behind the scenes of a big ballet company such as the New York one that this story takes place in
Not only would we have gotten a less “is he isn’t he” depiction of Thomas, but it probably would’ve made the inner conflict Nina has about him all the more believable.
Instead, the story was written by Andres Heinz, who helped co-write it with Mark Heyman and the late John McLaughlin; three white dudes whose only experience with the ballet was making sure they got tickets for it. Probably.
I wanted to make sure I shared my grievances and acknowledged them first and foremost because they needed to be brought up in order to be as fair as possible with this movie.
It’s not right for me to only sing the praises of the things a movie did well in my opinion and completely ignore the problematic things that either didn’t age well, sit right with me, or both.
So with that being said, let’s talk about why I love this movie
Outside of the psychological thriller and horror elements, one of my favorite things about Black Swan was the camerawork and how important it was in telling not only the story, but the various elements within the story that are necessary for you to appreciate its setting.
Like I said numerous times beforehand, I’m not as well-versed in ballet as I am in other forms of theatrical art. Ask me to give you a name of a ballet-only production before I saw Black Swan, and I’d immediately disappoint you.
No, seriously; you’re talking to a guy who only saw Columbia Pictures’ The Swan Princess about one or two times in his life and didn’t put it together that it was just an animated adaptation of Swan Lake.
So when I saw the opening scene of Black Swan in the theaters, I was immediately captivated. The camera did an excellent job capturing the story of how the the swan queen became the swan queen.
/I could see the struggle she faced with the enchanter, see the emphasis on how his movements were supposed to signal enrapturing her with his spell. Because it’s so close up, we can see how dire the situation is that the Swan Queen is in because it’s properly shown on Natalie Portman’s face./
It's emphasised even more when she’s transformed into a swan, when not only the music appropriately changes, but the cinematography allows us to see it from every angle. It showed me the premise of the ballet in a way that I never could really appreciate if I saw it any other way.
And I say that as a man who daydreams about being able to see certain Broadway musicals when the touring productions stop in Detroit, because of price and horrible options for seating sections.
And the superb camerawork doesn’t just stop there. When watching the movie, the use of shaky-cam can be argued as a visual extension of Nina’s own mental state throughout the movie.
/We can see it both in the beginning of the film when she’s headed to rehearsals or out and about in New York, and it’s pretty steady. But when it's near the end and she’s reaching her breaking point, the shaking is sharp and violent./
It’s the very subtle things that you don’t tend to notice immediately in filmmaking that I greatly appreciate, especially in a story like this that has so many aspects of paranoia and lack of sanity injected within it.
/The way Black Swan is shot is just as important as the performances as far as driving home the importance of this being a psychological thriller./
So let’s talk about the dynamic between Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis
It goes without saying that Natalie Portman presented one of the most pinnacle performances of her entire career as Nina.
/Her obsessiveness with perfection, her battle with the overprotectiveness of her mother, taking such a huge step out of her comfort zone to the point where she’s waging an inner war over her very own identity. Natalie Portman delivered such a range of inner conflict and everything perfectly fell into place. Because of this, she’s provided us a character that allows us to see what happens when all of these different stones are constantly thrown at her window, and under the combined strain, her sanity begins to slowly shatter. And the way it shatters is absolutely beautiful to watch./
That shattering of Nina’s sanity is even better reflected in Lily, portrayed by Mila Kunis who -- honestly -- knocks this role out of the park.
/She’s a free spirit that naturally is supposed to play foil to Nina’s sense of perfection, and Mila does it so well that the way she portrays Lily damn near flips the trope on its head. Whenever there’s an opportunity for her to be spiteful, she’s trying to connect. Whenever she realizes that she messed up, she apologizes and tries to make amends. Mila produces a natural fun and flirty energy to Lily that immediately makes you want to be in the same atmosphere she generates, because you just know you’ll be better. And it’s because of Mila’s energy, all of Lily’s attempts to get Nina to relax, open up and live a little are genuine and non-evasive./
The beauty of the situation, however -- and, as a result, the beauty of Mila’s portrayal of Lily -- is that the rivalry between the two, which at least in the home release promotional material of Black Swan, is completely one-sided.
/Despite what we see Lily do, the foil trope only feels like it’s perceived the way it’s traditionally perceived about 70% of the time we see the two interact, because Nina has such a hard time seeing Lily as anything else than a rival with the ability to relinquish enough control of herself to dance the black swan./
She depicts Lily as an ACTUAL black swan; this ever-corrupting force in the dance company that’s trying to seduce everyone there and steal away her moment. While in actuality, the version of Lily she believes her to be is nothing but another face her paranoia and mental instability wears to rebuild her from the ground up when the glass in her window eventually shatters.
/Because she constantly resists the call to give in to her own inner black swan, she uses the visage of Lily’s “corruption” as a scapegoat when the two of them SUPPOSEDLY return back to Nina’s from partying and proceed to “just being gal pals.” Then she finally gives in by attacking and presumably killing Lily once her black swan dance is threatened, only to realize that wasn’t Lily she struck in her dressing room, it was herself./
She needed a vessel to pour her own insecurities and paranoia into in order to reach this aspect of perfection that she longed for since the day she decided to fight for the part.
/But because of how shattered she’d become throughout the movie, there was no other healthy alternative to distribute that damage she thought she was dishing out to Lily. So she dished it out to the vessel that ACTUALLY held said fear and insecurities. Herself./ (the only person standing in your way is you)
Yes, Black Swan has its flaws, and there are definitely things about it that didn’t age well since it came out in 2010.
But unlike other films that require you to make excuses for the content in question in order for you to still find merit and meaning in the overall narrative, Black Swan owns it because of its initial nature of being a psychological thriller first and foremost.
And the things that stand the test of time continue to be thought-provoking, inspiring, mesmerizing, and horrifying simultaneously.
Whether you’re like me and discovered this piece of art because Satoshi Kon left a permanent itch in your soul that you periodically need to scratch via Paranoia Agent or any of his other works, or you found beauty in the initial deep and dark dive of this Aranofsky work all on your own.
/This is a must-watch for anyone who has a deep appreciation, love, or obsession for psychological thrillers. And even if you don’t yet, this isn’t a bad way of introducing yourself to a whole new world of storytelling. Because despite its imperfection, Black Swan is perfect./
Right now you can rent or own Black Swan digitally on YouTube, Google Play, ITunes, Vudu and Amazon Prime.
But if you want to purchase it AND help out the channel, you can click the link in the description down below
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So with that being said Readers, your homework assignment for the day. Write in the comment section what you thought of Black Swan if you’ve seen it.
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But until then, this is Readus 101. Class dismissed.
